They addressed the "always on" rumor. Specifically, they said that while the console will require an internet connection for many of its features (and, presumably, game registration) it will not have to be constantly connected.

Judging by the "cease and desist" type warning I got from HBO by way of Verizon, I'm guessing HBO just doesn't take compliments very well.

Online gambling (with maybe the exception of a couple of states) has never been illegal in the US. However, it IS illegal for US banks to do business with online casinos under a law passed nearly ten years ago. That's a federal law that hasn't been repealed, so how are people supposed to deposit money in accounts with these Jersey casinos?

One would hope. These days, though, the people sworn to "uphold and protect" the Constitution of the United States spend most of their time ignoring or outright raping it.

Take out the words "parts of" and I agree totally.

it doesn't run Android apps (not most of them, anyway) and it doesn't run Linux software. So really, what's the advantage here?

Okay, I forgot all about classic-shell. Use that and it solves the vast majority of Windows 8's problems. Figures the open source community would solve that one.

I still say it's lazy on MS part, though.

...from a usability standpoint; and as everyone has pointed out a million times, it's the lack of some type of Start menu. It just doesn't make sense to have to completely leave the desktop whenever you want to launch another application. The silly corners aren't even that big of a deal (although they work much better in a tablet environment than on a desktop).

Win8 was obviously built for a touch screen. Microsoft sees things headed in that direction and decided to make that the primary focus. The desktop gets what feels like a "port".

It's sad too, because other than that Win8 works really well. And it really could have been the perfect desktop. Picture this: You boot into Metro. That's perfect for people who just want to check email or a quick look at the news or weather or what have you. It's good for mouse and awesome for touch screen. When you have serious work (or gaming) to do, you click the "desktop" icon and boom, you have your actual desktop. I mean a real desktop, with its own menu for launching applications. If you want to go back to the Metro it could be a hot corner or even a right-click option. Whatever.

The point is, if you're in the middle of something and need to launch, say, a calculator it's just silly to have to leave the desktop to do it. Sure, you could clutter things up putting the icons everywhere but who wants to do that? I get why MS wanted this for its tablet (how is the Surface working out for you, by the way?) but it seems just plain lazy to not have a true desktop version.

I'd imagine that someone will come up with a mod that essentially adds it back (actually, there already is one, although all it does is put metro in a window on the lower right of the screen where the Start menu would be--not ideal, but it shows people are thinking about it) or maybe even MS will realize that it's best to give people what they want.

But then, everyone knows you skip every other version of Windows anyway.

$150 a month extra for about ten years, that is.

It isn't about cutting costs, it's about not increasing costs.

I live in Virginia. There are 4.5 million Dominion Virginia Power customers. Dominion did a study a few years ago and found that it'd cost $83 billion to bury all of the lines. Since Dominion is a regulated monopoly, when its costs go down customers get the reduction, but customers get the increase when its costs go up as well. If you divide it out, you get each customer paying a little more than $150 a month extra. Now, you could try to adjust for changes in population over time and make it so people who use more electricity paid a greater share of the cost, but any way you slice it the bill would go up by an amount that's too much for a lot of people to afford.

Instead, what Dominion is doing is making sure it buries new lines. That helps at least. Personally I think they should be replacing mangled lines with below ground lines as well, but that would mean people being without power for even longer, and that would cause such outrage that the state (which still controls what Dominion does, mind you) would probably not stand for it.

Going by this, you can. As long as you A) purchased the mp3 yourself, B) do not have a physical copy or the CD it came from, C) only give it to one person and D) erase any and all copies of that mp3 that you have as soon as the transfer is complete.

Or you could buy 50 different copies of a song, give it to 50 different people and immediately erase all 50 copies from your system. I'm guessing the record companies would dig that.

So if you go to Ocean Marketing's website (www.oceanmarketinginc.com) you'll find it A) looks very amateurish, B) has misspellings (like "Firat Name" on a form) and C) has a phone number that, when called, is "not in service". Not exactly what you would expect a legit PR website to look like. Maybe this company couldn't afford to hire a more professional outfit but something just doesn't seem right.

Actually, the current suggestion is to put a device on your car to track the mileage so they can tax you based on how much you drive.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/18/news/economy/gas_tax_drivers/?section=money_latest

Take away the profits and you might as well take away the games and movies people are pirating. It takes a lot of long hours and hard work to make a decent movie or game and you aren't going to find many people who are willing or even able to do it for free. There are those who will give up their time and effort for indie films and such, but even those people are doing it with the hope that it'll springboard them to a big gig with a big paycheck.

Somehow, I don't think anyone at NASA has to worry about those questions under the current administration.